Quincy (30-25): 11
#8 Southern Indiana (41-11): 3
-Box Score:
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SortableEVANSVILLE, Ind.—The fourth, fifth, and sixth innings spelled doom for the No. 8 University of Southern Indiana baseball team's Great Lakes Valley Conference championship aspirations Saturday night. Quincy University scored 11 unanswered runs during the middle innings to hand the Screaming Eagles an 11-3 loss in the elimination game of the GLVC Championship Tournament at Bosse Field.
USI (41-11), which suffered a 2-1 setback to the Hawks earlier in the day to force the elimination game, jumped out to a 3-0 advantage as junior shortstop/pitcher
Matt Chavarria drove in a pair of runs with a triple in the second frame and a single in the third.
Chavarria also scored on a single by senior outfielder
Brent Weinzapfel in the second inning as USI led 2-0 after two innings and 3-0 heading into the last part of the third frame.
Quincy (30-25), however, scored a run in the bottom of the third inning; then erupted for five runs in the third inning as it surged in front, 6-3. The Hawks added five more tallies in the sixth inning and held the Eagles off the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest.
USI committed an uncharacteristic three errors in the contest, while USI pitchers surrendered 14 hits, including a combined nine in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.
Sophomore hurler
Tyler Nichols was charged with the loss after giving up five runs, four earned, off four hits in an inning of relief work. He falls to 1-1 with the decision.
The Eagles, who have lost back-to-back games for just the third time this season and the first time since February, will learn their post-season fate Sunday at 9 p.m. (CDT) when the NCAA II Tournament selections are made on www.ncaa.com. USI was ranked No. 1 in the final NCAA II Midwest Region Rankings of the regular season.
Quincy, which was not ranked in the latest Midwest Region poll, will play for the GLVC's automatic bid Sunday at 11 a.m. when it take on Drury University in the GLVC Championship. The Panthers (40-11) defeated Truman State University, 17-5, Saturday to advance to the title game.
